Worn
by 2theSky
Summary: Some of the most beautiful things come from disasters.


"The spirit of the Renegade ends- right here, right NOW."

With the crashing down of a lunatic's chaotic empire and the destroyer being only a meager mechanic, neither force was able to notice anything outside their focus. All they could see was destruction.

The destruction of a twisted concept born in a world of isolation and anger.

The destruction of a chance to maybe overthrow CLU and all his heinous schemes.

"Not for me!"

And neither Beck or Cyrus took notice of anything around them. They were aware the bomb they were standing on was ready to derezz from lack of power; they were aware the storm around them had reached a climax accented by lightning and thunder; they were aware that this would not end well, but at least the Grid would remain in tact to see another cycle.

But as Beck jumped and ran, and Cyrus' scream echoed through the outlands, a stray lightning bolt grabbed onto one of the wires fraying and twisting limply from its place inside the bomb. The code crackled and burst, becoming a jumble of useless code. Another lightning bolt and sparks from the imploding bomb joined with the abandoned code, swirling violently in a mini funnel.

Beck glared at where Cyrus' door to his freakish domain had previously been whole. Now, it was shattered, His downward stare missed the swirl of code slowly piecing together, invisible hands crafting something from the charred remains of a sick and twisted, though brilliant, mind. Beck slowly walked away, shaking his head at what had just occurred, his wrists tingling and burning.

The unseen hands pulled and twisted, shaping a pair of tiny wings, both a brilliant white. Both were etched with soft swirls and patterns resembling snowflakes. A white line was traced straight down, and then the fingers moved to swirl a small sphere with two tiny fern-like spears sticking up from it. The wings and line and sphere were then connected in another funnel and the creation of a tiny moth was complete.

The little spark with wings flew away from the scene, abandoning the insane program that emerged from his prison, ready to destroy anyone he had to to make his dream a cruel reality.

* * *

**"Let me see redemption win. Let me know the struggle ends, that you can mend a heart that's frail and torn. I want to know a song can rise from the ashes of a broken life, and all that's dead inside can be reborn, 'cause I'm worn..."**

* * *

Bit was gone.

Mara sighed, staring at Able's abandoned desk for the millionth time that cycle alone; Pavel had fired the only mechanics in Argon- all of them... well, technically not Beck, because he hadn't been there.

Again.

But derezzing Bit... Mara felt the tears come and tried to blink them back, but to no avail. They all had their jobs back now, but without Able, what was the point?

"Hey, Mara-"

Mara turned around and Zed stopped, sighing. "Hey, it'll be okay," he said soothingly, hugging her. "We'll get through this."

"Will we?" Mara's circuits flickered, revealing just how exhausted she was. Zed knew the feeling; his had been flickering all day. "I can't believe that Able's really gone. And I know what I said before, but... it really doesn't seem real! And now, thanks to that bit-brain Pavel, so is Bit! And to top it all off, Beck's off somewhere, skipping out on us!"

Zed shook his head and slowly released Mara, frowning. "Maybe Beck's just grieving ov-"

Mara held up a hand. "No, that's what we thought when Bodhi was derezzed. He's been skipping work and ditching us, too! Something has to be going on with him."

"Well, maybe he'll be back later tonight," Zed suggested, trying to smile.

"Maybe..."" Mara looked up. "What's that?"

"What's wha-"

The little moth floated into the office, wings spread, catching the light on its body; Mara gasped at how beautiful it was. "Wow..." she held out her hand and the little creature swirled, then landed in the palm of her hand, wings still open.

Zed smiled. "We may have lost Bit, but," he shrugged, "maybe you just found a new friend."

Mara grinned back and gently rubbed the moth's back, then sat down in Able's chair, forgetting about the chaos surrounding her life for a few nanocycles as the little moth crawled around in her hands, making her smile.

* * *

**"...my prayers are wearing thin. Yeah I'm worn, even before the day begins. Yeah, I'm worn- I've lost my will to fight. I'm worn, so heaven come and flood my eyes..."**

* * *

"Check that out..."

Kevin Flynn released the little flurry of code, taking note for a nanocycle of its wings. A moth...

He turned back to his son and to Quorra, watching as Quorra's damaged code began to mend.

The little moth fluttered away, gliding along the clouds and sweeping through the air; the Grid was incredibly dark in these days, and its wings were not lit up in the least.

Suddenly, the little moth collided with something, and both the moth and whatever it had hit spiraled downward. The moth righted itself, then glanced at what it had hit.

Another moth.

This one was bigger, though not by much, and it looked worn. Its on wing had a magnificent scratch through it; the other was flickering.

Both moths finally took notice of the other, and the older one few closer to the much younger one. They circled each other, then fluttered down towards the cities below.

The lights caught their wings, revealing one with spirals and snowflake designs, and the other an ISO mark surrounded by little lines of code. Both were incredibly graceful.

And beautiful.

As they fluttered off into the distance, one with a story to tell and one with a story yet to be written, both had one thing in common-

they were both forged from ashes of pain and injury.

And they were truly beautiful.

* * *

**"Let me see redemption win. Let me know the struggle ends, that you can mend a heart that's frail and torn. I want to know a song can rise from the ashes of a broken life, and all that's dead inside can be reborn- though I'm worn... yeah, I'm worn..."**

* * *

_-okay, first i wanna thank Pirateweasel for being so patient in waiting for this story. and by patient, i mean waiting since JANUARY for it! and thanks as well for the prompt! :)_

_any typos i blame on the heat! :P no, they're my fault. sorry :(_

_and now time for an announcement: my newest story, Welcome to the New, will be posted Sunday. it isn't Tron- sorry :( but it does have to do with computers and coding and all that ;) if you're interested, just check my profile and it'll be there. but it won't have a cover image for a little while- it's too hot to think, let alone draw XP_

_sorry for the long wait for a new story... finals and school are OVER! finally! :P well, until September at least..._

_-lyrics from Tenth Avenue North "Worn"_

_have an awesome day, guys, and God bless! :)_


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